Tilter's Annonymous. All tilters welcome.

[Guruman]

ha

[detruncate]

Hi, my name is detruncate and I'm a tilter.

Lately I've been suffering from "extreme aversion to pokering" tilt, which is especially difficult given that it's supposed to be my primary source of income. I've hardly played in months and my bankroll is shrinking at an alarming rate. I'm also intimately familiar with most of the other things on your list. Poker is hard.

The worst part is that I know exactly what the source of my tilt problem is: the disconnect between what happens and what I expect or desire to happen creates stress, and that stress manifests itself in all sorts of unpleasant ways.

I want to win because I like eating regularly and sleeping indoors. I expect to win because I've put a lot of time and effort into learning how to play + have had some success in the past. But my likelihood of winning is diminished in direct proportion to how strongly I'm feeling one or more of these things at any given moment.

Things that seem to help me:

1) Be rested, fed, alert, sober. Remove distractions.

2) Be in the moment. Too often people seem unable to allow themselves to be still, present. The mind wanders to the next hand, or the next song, or that ridiculously smart and attractive someone who agreed to have dinner with you for some unfathomable reason. Be fully present until it's time to throw yourself into something else.

3) Music. I once played Jungle Boogie on constant loop for like 45 minutes while I grooved my way to the end of a tough session. Leaving aside what that says about me, a good song at the right time can be just what the doctor ordered. I listen to a lot of jazz, but am not above some good punk or thrash as the occasion demands.

4) Learn to forgive yourself. Mistakes can be difficult to deal with. The lucky few have no problem letting mistakes go and are able to easily maintain confidence in the face of repeated failures. I'm not among them. It's something I'm constantly working on.

5) Windows. I'd go insane if my computer was tucked away in a dark little room somewhere. If you can't have windows, at least make your space agreeable in whatever way appeals to you. But I highly recommend windows.

6) Just play. Park your ego elsewhere. You don't deserve to win. And nobody cares whether you play well except you.

7) Smile. Especially when you least feel like it. It's remarkable how much it helps, even when you don't particularly mean it. If you keep doing it long enough, you might just find yourself believing it more often. Such is my hope, anyway.

8) Stay well within your limits. Bankroll wise. Skill wise. Session length wise. Play only as many tables as you can handle without turning into a frustrated clicking machine. Ambitious, driven people tend to push too hard sometimes. Most times even. Pick a good game. Pick a good seat. Give yourself the best chance of success. Poker is hard enough at the best of times.

9) Talk to someone. Vent to a blog if nothing else. Maybe have a look at someone else's. Poker is lonely. Remind yourself that you're not the only one who has trouble putting it all together and keeping it there. That can be easy to forget when it seems like all your peers are rolling happily along.

10) Separate poker time from non-. Think about pokering away from the table, do your review and 2+2ing, but when you're done, be done. It's all too easy to dwell on things, or let one interest take over your life. At the end of the day, absent the money it's a pretty ridiculous activity to take so seriously.

Speaking of... it's a beautiful evening and I've spent way too much time sitting at my computer today.

Best of luck and happy pokering to all us recovering tilt monkeys.

[bassLine]

Hi. My name is Carlos and I´m a tilter.

It comes upon a losing streak which involves making second best hands. When the action seems to ALWAYS go you bet, call, bet, call, bet, raise!?

Avoiding to prepare myself mentally to win a hand is what I´m working on. Let´s face it. You are never going to stop losing pots as long as you keep playing.

The tricky part is to condition your mind to forget if you won or lost money in the last hand. You played the best you could and that is what matters from the profit point of view.


KTo 304 times : 0.24 BB/hand
Folded before SD (1.28)*61 = -78,08
Went to SD and won 3.99*44 = 175,56
Went to SD and lost (2.97)*15 = -44,55
Won without SD 1.17*57 = 66,69

I picked out a marginal hand to illustrate a point.
With this shieat i´ve lost 122BB in 76 opportunities and won
242BB the rest.

If I were to lose those 76 times in a row I prolly would go on monkey tilt.
Conversely had I won those other times one after another the feeling I´m playing great would have appeared.

Cliffnote: A pot lost or won is peanuts. Playing them correctly is were the money is.

[train.]

[ QUOTE ]
Tiltblocker again kept me focused on the game and not the roll. I'm kind of sickened by how much difference it's making.


[/ QUOTE ]

I tried this when it first came out and I just couldn't make myself use it. I either had to peek or let myself get too low on chips and I just really didn't like it.

After you posted this I went and found it again and used it for my next session. I've been buying in for 50bb for a while now and only playing two tables so letting my stack get too short hasn't been a problem. I couldn't believe how much a difference not knowing meant to my play. It allowed me to focus on just this hand and how I was playing it. No wondering about how I was gonna get unstuck or whether I should quit while I was up.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm kind of sickened by how much difference it's making.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Guruman]

kind of sick eh?

I don't actually use tilt blocker proper. I use memento . Its just a little sticky-note program, but if you create a new note and double click on the title bar the note rolls up and all you're left with is the little bar. Its much less intrusive than tilt blocker, and it remembers its positioning when you re-open it so if you put your tables in consistent spots you don't have to move it much.

[Bowlboy]

Hey I accidentally got to this forum cuz I thought I was going to uNL. Anyhow great post. Didnt read all the replies though tl;dr. Tilt sucks but looks like you have a very good grasp on the nature of the beast so that's a start.

I personally dont feel any tilt most of the time I play in the game I play 10NL 6max because I typically crush it session after session while 9 tabling. Downswings are usually really small for me but when I have taken shots at 25NL for some reason I play badly and tilt a lot. It's weird.

Anyhow, since you know what tilt is and can obviously recognize the symptoms that you are tilting, might I just suggest taking a break? Stop playing. This is especially important if you are approaching that threshold for pain, where your downswing gets so big that losing another 100BB wont make a difference. That's where you're really in danger and it takes a lot to get up and walk away from the game but you need to. You've been beaten. Retreat. Dont stand their and get slaughtered.

Now I think with some discipline, you and lots of us can realize we are beginning to tilt fairly on. Early detection is important here just like with prostate cancer. Take a break in the early stages of tilt. Go to the bathroom, splash some water on your face. Collect your composure. GIVE YOURSELF A PEP TALK. Seriously man. Look at yourself and ask "Wtf am I doing? I'm better than this!" "The 'A' game is where the money is at. Stay on the 'A' game." I mean say whatever you want to make yourself feel better. Be your own coach. Just be careful not to psyche yourself up like a you would a football player to go and kick some ass. You need to be psyched to make the best decisions you can. Remember that you are losing and your opponents will expect you to be on tilt. You're going to need to showdown a hand. Personally I dont like tables where I can only make money by showing down a hand so I'd just leave. Move to another table where nobody knows or suspects that you will be on tilt. There will be less playing back at you that way which will certainly heed the pace at which your tilt is developing into a money fire.

Good luck.

[Bilgefisher]

My name is Bilge and I am a tilter. phew!


First off, Guru you have greated one of the ultimate tilt threads. Well done.

The idea of switching to .02/.04 is excellent. The key is to get out of the rut your in. Many times folks get the blinders on and can only see straight ahead. They don't realize they have dug themselves a trench. It takes more effort to get out of a rut.

Changing your game for a short while (sometimes weeks) can give you a fresh look when you get back. Some of that tilt may fade. If I run bad for a while, I switch to the 4$ 180 man stars sit-n-go's. They really take the stress off.

Also, take a deep breath. Literally take a long inhale and quick exhale. You'll be amazed at how well it works.

[Befolder]

[ QUOTE ]
kind of sick eh?

I don't actually use tilt blocker proper. I use memento . Its just a little sticky-note program, but if you create a new note and double click on the title bar the note rolls up and all you're left with is the little bar. Its much less intrusive than tilt blocker, and it remembers its positioning when you re-open it so if you put your tables in consistent spots you don't have to move it much.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just downloaded this because I too look at my stack size too much.

I can already feel a difference in my concentrating on each decision a bit harder, though it scares the hell out of me to not know the stack sizes at my tables. I'm going to stick with it though.